8. First, what is up. Then how I found out.

Curtis was in Wasaga Beach. He was upset because his brother was in jail. There. That was easy. Straight to the point.

I left Jill and Omar in their awkward silence, sheepisly digging their feet into the sand. I stormed my way right to the source, heading to the new cottage at the end of the street, toward the eerie sound of wind chimes. My friends hinted that there was bad news but it took them too long to get to the point. I hated that. It reminded me of high school. Everyone was obsessed with drama, making tiny, meaningless details into elaborate secrets. I was supposed to be leaving that behind me.

"It's sort of his business." Jill had mumbled. Whatever. I marched off as soon as they revealed where he was, feeling my temper slip. How dare he break tradition. Curtis was the first face I had seen in Wasaga Beach for four vacations in a row. We were supposed to be playing frisbee, setting the opening day record. I wasn't in the mood for more summer sabotoge, I had aleady survived the arrival of a mystery cousin. I noticed my fists were clenched tightly. I needed to get the full story before I screamed.

Turns out, Jack was under arrest. That was why Curtis' cottage was still locked up. They hadn't come to Wasaga Beach. Mr. and Mrs. Burris remained in Toronto to help with their eldest son's defense. Technically, he wasn't in jail. He was waiting for his trial or something. The police said that he sold illegal DVDs, copying movies and selling them at his University. It took a long time for Curtis to tell me that. I almost lost my fingers in the process.

I was lucky that the Talman's weren't home. I went right inside their cottage with my mud, forgetting that the screen door would slam behind me, creating a terrible chiming cacophony. I peaked into Omar's room, half was a paradise of organization, folded clothes, a desk with an immaculate row of pens, and a neat stack of books. The other half was a disaster atop an unmade bed. Curtis.

I found him in the back room amidst alien bleeping noises. When people play video games they look like zombies. They stare straight ahead, mouths hanging open, the reflection of the screen flickering madly in their eyes. The play room blinds were drawn, limiting it to the sick light of the tv screen. The bluish hue on Curtis' face completed the picture of a boy who wanted to eat brains. I sat down beside him.

“Hey, Rach.”

“Hey, Curt.” I stared at him. He kept staring at the TV screen. “We just got here.”

“Yeah, I heard Jill yelling.”

“Are you staying here?”

“Yeah, I’m staying in Omar’s room. It’s pretty sweet.”

“Where’s your family?”

“Oh, they’re staying in Toronto.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, except I’m low on ammo.”

“Can you save the game?” There was a long pause as he focused on playing.

"Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want me to save?” He asked, annoyed.

“So we can talk.”

“Yeah sure, next save point.” I was weirded out. It was odd to see him playing a video game indoors. He was the first one to insist that we go outside.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I could feel my irritation returning. “There’s a save point in that room.” I pointed at the screen, he continued to play. “Pause the game.” Minutes passed. Well, it was probably seconds but I had hit my limit. I pressed power on the console, the action onscreen disappearing into a black hole as the game shut off.

"Why did you do that?”

“What’s going on?”

“I was in the middle of a mission.”

“No video games at the beach, that’s your rule.” Then Curtis swore loudly and raged out of the room. He turned, his hands curled into tight fists. “You're lucky you're a girl.”

“Excuse me?” I chased after him, yelling "Or what? Or what?" I almost ran into the bedroom door as he slammed it in my face.

“What's your problem?” I yelled. I tried to turn the handle and push the door open but Curtis held the other side. I threw myself against it but he was suprisingly strong. I could hear him muttering a streak of words that he never used. I wanted to tell him to relax. To be the Curtis that I knew. The sage advisor who insisted nothing was worth getting this worked up about, forget it, have some fun, play some frisbee. I wanted to remind him he was the king of keeping cool, that's why we needed him -especially Omar. We would share a laugh, shake our heads. But instead what came out was, "Stop swearing, loser." That's when I decided to get drastic. I threw myself against the door and pushed my hand in the gap.

“My fingers are in the door. Stop pushing!” I felt him fighting back. I struggled with renewed vigour, the strength of desperation, my digits were at stake. “Curtis, stop!” I realized I had made a mistake, he was too mad to stop, probably had his back pushing against the door and I was going to lose my fingers. I gritted my teeth, bracing myself for the inevitable bite of pain. I vaguely wondered if doctors could reattach severed fingers.

But they were not crushed. Suddenly, the resistance vanished. I walked into the room. Curtis was sitting on his cot, staring at the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine." I shrugged. I had been irritated to exhaustion, happy to investigate my lucky hand. That's when Curtis began, speaking to me as he talked to the wall. He told me how Jack had been arrested. How everyone thought he was guilty, even his parents. Curtis knew the truth because Jack had told him everything. I wasn't too worried because I knew he was innocent. Anyone who knew Jack knew that this wasn't something he'd do. Curtis was being a bit dramatic. Obviously his parents supported Jack, they had stayed with him to help with his defense. All of this was a minor inconvenience, hardly a reason to ruin a summer in Wasaga Beach. I was convinced they would all be here within the week. I hadn't realized that you could be put in jail for something someone else did. That wasn't how things actually worked. That was for movies.

"Did I get your fingers with the door?"

"Only I bit." I said, flexing them to show they worked fine.

"Are you going to use that as an excuse when you drop the frisbee?" We headed to the beach.